The Clock's Tale
by Choirboy the Second
Summary: A somewhat sappy story about the accurances during a visit to a small park by the Eds. Rated PG to be safe.


Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd and Eddy. That's probably a good thing for some of you.  
  
Notes: Takes place after the Eds graduate from high-school. It's super sappy, so beware.  
  
- - - The Clock's Tale - - -  
  
Today, we all got into Eddy's car and drove.  
  
We had no plans, no destination. I rather dislike spontaneous activities, particularly ones that involve going to someplace new, or far away. But Ed looked at me with his big brown eyes and pleaded like a child. I could say no to him. I was so proud of him for pulling his grades out of the gutter and graduating, that the last couple of weeks I had spoiled him rotten, like a mother would for her child. Even Eddy was being a lot nicer to him, lying off the insults and even occasionally partaking in random purchases of whatever Ed and I couldn't really afford. (In such times he would simply drop the item on the floor, or into Ed's hands, and walk off. He would ignore any comments, or claim amnesia.) Needless to say, Ed was enjoying the heck out of himself.  
  
Anyway, back to my story. Eddy woke us up early, made us breakfast (which meant he got out the bowls, cereal, milk and spoons.) I inquired what it was he wanted. (Because, when Eddy will wake up before noon, he usually wanted something. That never changed.) He explained that he wanted to go on an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment road trip. I groaned, and Ed cheered. After much delegation (and several bowls of cereal), they convinced me to go. So, we loaded into Eddy's spacious car (well. sports utility vehicle) and headed to the open road.  
  
Eddy had a look on his face like he knew exactly where we were going, but waved off my inquiries like an odor. Ed bounced around, and kept pestering Eddy to turn the radio to some gosh-awful hard-rock station. Eddy ignored him, too, for a while, until around five minutes, at which point he pulled a head-set radio from the dashboard, and tossed it at Ed. Ed immediately tuned the radio and set the volume so high that Eddy screamed that maybe turning on the radio would be quieter.  
  
Finally we arrived at a very pleasant little place. Eddy explained the many wonders of the park. There was a shallow stream, sprinklers that popped up from the ground and sprayed you, and a stand that sold hot-dogs and snow- cones. Needless to say, there was an immediate explosion when he finished. Ed was chuckling with glee, whereas I turned to Eddy and demanded to know why I wasn't told to pack appropriate swim-wear. He sighed as we all exited the vehicle and told me, in a somewhat stern tone, that I was being difficult, and that it would ruin the fun. I crossed my arms and remained silent.  
  
We crossed a long pathway full of rolling staircases until we reached the center of the park. The ground was rock, and the place was surrounded by luscious, green trees. I saw the hot-dog/snow-cone stand pushed off to the right, and the stream to the left. It was barely deep enough for us to get our knees wet. There were a few small children floating around in the deepest part, however, clad in swimming suits. I took a mental-note, as that Eddy was right in not getting me riled up about 'proper-swimwear'.  
  
However, in the smack-dab middle of this somewhat enchanting place, was something Eddy neglected to tell us about: a huge clock, built of brass. It stretched up at least fifty feet, and sprayed water out of its sides.  
  
Eddy directed us to the stand, and we each got huge snow-cones, filled with bizarre flavored syrups, such as mint-bubble-gum, and caramel-root-beer. Eddy led us over to the stream, where we removed out shoes, sat on a large rock, and dangled our feet in the water while silently devouring our snow- cones.  
  
As soon as he finished his snow-cone, Ed rolled up his pant-legs and dropped into the water. It licked the bottom of his rolls, and ripples splashed against our feet.  
  
Eddy quickly slurped up the rest of his somewhat-melted snow-cone, and followed Ed's suit. However, as he was much shorter than Ed and I, the water came up to nearly his waist. He grumbled, looked around, and the silently removed his pants. He tossed them up, and they landed by me. I opened my mouth to protest, but at that moment, Ed's pants also flew by me, followed by their shirts, and then their underwear.  
  
They sat in the water, giggling, and beckoned me to join them. I was aghast. There they were, nude, in a public place! And they were trying to get me to join them!  
  
I told them that I wanted to finish my snow-cone. They nodded, and began splashing each-other. I watched silently, every once-in-a-while, tipping the empty paper cone upwards by my mouth, to add to the charade.  
  
What I was really doing, was not finishing my snow-cone, but watching. Assessing. Thinking.  
  
Should I jump in with them? Probably not. Exposing myself in public... I was above that. I slurped up the imaginary snow and syrup. But. it's like Eddy said. I would ruin the fun.  
  
With a sudden movement, I found myself standing, the empty cone on the ground, and my hands sliding to the button on my pants. Eddy cheered and Ed whistled as loudly as I could. I leapt into the water after removing my pants and shirt, but left my under-pants on. They gave me a look, one which I didn't really understand, but before I could give it much thought, they were splashing my together, and I felt the water cover my still-exposed face and torso. All of a sudden, we were all under-water, dragging along the bottom with our hands and feet. One of us would grab another by the wrists and pull them quickly through the water.  
  
The first time Ed did this to me, I felt like a rocket, a missile, shooting through the water at a million miles an hour. I shot through the water so quickly my eyes stung and my ears popped. I was enthralled.  
  
We each did this a few times before we noticed the sprinklers had turned on. We scurried to put on our pants (and in Ed and Eddy's case, under- pants), as Eddy had alerted us to the fact that the sprinklers only stayed on a few minutes at a time, and there was a long wait in-between. We ran through them a couple of times, but them would stop at a single sprinkler and be blasted in the face by a sharp jolt of water. Eddy once stood over his, legs spread out, and let out a loud explanation when the water shot him in the. well. Ed stuck the left side of his face down by the sprinkler, and when it squirted upwards, it gave the illusion that the water was shooting through Ed's head. We all had a good laugh at that.  
  
And in barely any time at all, the sprinklers turned off, and we groaned. Ed announced that he was hungry, so we all bought a hot-dog, and another snow-cone. We sat down on a stool in front of the huge clock. I asked Eddy why he had chosen to sit there, instead of down by the water, but he ignored my questions, as he always seemed to do. I, however, got the distinct feeling there was something very special about this clock, other than its immense size.  
  
We sat there for several minutes. Ed and I bombarded Eddy with questions, but he refused to answer any of them. And so we sat, watching the time grow nearer and nearer to noon.  
  
Suddenly, the second it became noon, the clock played a normal 'change of the hour' jingle and let out twelve loud 'BONG's. Then, it stopped, and silence settled over the park. I looked incredulously at Eddy and mouthed 'that's it?'. He simply gestured back towards the clock.  
  
What happened next was amazing. A huge part of the front-side of the clock swung open like a door. Out of it popped three wooden characters, which shared an uncanny resemblance to Ed, Eddy and I.  
  
"Once upon a time," a loud, deep voice boomed down on us, "there were three friends. Like all friends, they sometimes argued and sometimes fought. Amongst them was a very swave, handsome boy named Eddy. Even though he was very good looking, he was a little greedy, obnoxious and self-centered. This bothered his two friends, the very smart Double-D, and the friendly, but somewhat lump-headed Ed. However, even though Ed and Double-D could have, and possibly should have stopped being Eddy's friend, they stuck with him. Through the good, the bad, and the very ugly Canker sisters. And so, after a lot of thought, Eddy decided that it was time to make amends. Apologize. And so."  
  
Suddenly, it was Eddy's voice that came down from the heavens, like an angel's voice, and said, "I'm sorry. Will you too. ever forgive me for the way I am. was?"  
  
There was a sudden silence. The vendor at the hot-dog/snow-cone stand looked over to us. "Oh, Eddy," I said, as tears began to well up in my eyes, "There's no need to apologize!"  
  
"Yeah!" Ed said. "We've always like you, Eddy, no matter what!"  
  
Eddy looked as though he was about to burst into tears. Suddenly, Ed grabbed us all in a huge bear hug.  
  
And out of the corner of my eye, I saw the wooden figures do the same. 


End file.
